A Wolf In The Fold
by Lyta Halifax
Summary: "Understand, I did terrible things in order to secure my position as Director of The Institute. But I intend to change them from the inside as much as use them to make the Commonwealth a better place." If only Nora could make the woman she loves see all the reasons why she did it. Piper deserved to know that much. [Post FO 4 ending, FemSS/Piper. Spoilers, obviously.]


_**A/N: Obviously, if you've not finished FO4, TURN AROUND NOW AND STOP. Unless you like having things spoiled for you.**_

* * *

Blue.

Electric. Sparkling.

Cerulean curtains of energy parted from Nora's eyes, and the world resolved itself anew. Gone was the clean sterility of The Institute; it's over-polished, sharply gleaming metal surfaces, mixing with the dull tang of constantly reprocessed air. Surrounding her now was its mirror opposite, the barely tidied squalor of Diamond City. While both places held important places in her heart, she never felt fully comfortable in either; this was perhaps more owing to the fact that she never found anyplace that made her feel the way home did. The one she was forced to leave behind, two centuries back.

It was the lack of subtlety that rankled her. Everything was either one extreme or the other. Even now, as vestiges of civilization struggled to flourish…

 _...you'd think people would reprogram one of the damn robots to pick up all the debris, or hell, grab a broom! It's almost like people still can't bring themselves to build anything for the long term; like they're desperately afraid it's all going to come crashing down again. Well, I guess that's one more job now I can give the synths._

There was no subtlety, no in-between. Not like it was in her time. In those early months after her release from stasis, Nora found herself relating more and more with the ghouls, especially those who still remembered the pre-war world, how it used to be. The one they all shared before the bombs ended it all

There were days she swore the only thing that kept her truly sane was the fact that she still wasn't alone, not entirely. Daisy remembered, and even Todd, the poor Vault-Tec rep; he was a horrible conversationalist, and they had so little in common, but Nora and he would talk for hours; both were so grateful that at least one other person out there still remembered. Remember when Diamond City was Fenway Park, when the Red Sox beat the Yankees four games to three in the 2073 World Series, when the Freedom Trail was a nothing more than a pleasant attraction to amuse and delight the tourists hoping to revisit the past revolutionary history that Massachusetts proudly played host to. She found herself treasuring even the most mundane and banal remembrances of the past with both of them.

Back when the surrounding lands were more than simply 'The Commonwealth'.

Beyond the ghouls, there was only one other that made Nora feel like maybe everything would be alright. Who smelled like comfort, and tasted like home.

Someone she feared now hated her with a passion.

Nora was pleased to see that she was getting the hang of programming the Relay console on her own, having successfully instructed it to drop her off in one of the darker, less used corners of the old stadium.

 _No sense in making anyone jumpy. Damn faster than walking as well…_

She walked along through the alleyways that made up the settlement, a blue plastic cooler held in both hands, as she made her way towards one particular house near the front entrance.. Her face made up in subtle shades of crimson and black, and wearing a grey off-the-shoulder dress.

The one that Piper absolutely adored seeing her in.

 _Was it really just a few months ago, that we were saying the word 'love'?_

That time of her life now seemed as distant as the one she lived before the War.

Gently rapping her knuckles against the side door of the Publick Occurrences building, she stood and waited. Heart beating, chest tightening.

 _Huh...after everything I've done, all the battles...this still scares the shit out of me._

The door opened, and staring up at her was Piper in miniature - her little sister Nat. Smiling up at her, without a trace of fear in her eyes.

"Nora!" she squeaked with surprise...maybe delight? Another couple of seconds, and all of that was quickly dashed away, as the tough girl persona settled into place. "I mean...hey. Haven't seen you around in a while. You forget about me? And sis?"

"Yeah," Nora began. "Was working on my power armor in the shed back in Sanctuary when a wrench slipped off the shelf and conked me on the head." She aped smacking her head with a closed fist. "Total amnesia! First I thought I was a chicken...that lasted about a week, thankfully. Just in time, I was so sick of eating worms."

Nat tried her best not to laugh, choking it back and making a soft-harsh noise in her throat. Then paused to ask, "Wait...what's a chicken?"

And there it was. Just another thread woven into the tapestry of alienation that kept Nora a woman apart from the rest of what passed for the modern world.

"Flightless bird. Pretty good, tastes like iguana. Um….is Piper…?"

"Nat! Who's at the door?" a voice called out from inside.

Nora felt eyes appraising her, as the young girl considered her options. She wasn't sure what the girl heard, or been told. About her, the position she now held. What she'd done to cement her place of power in the Institute. None of that seemed to matter, as Nat stepped backwards and canted her head towards the rest of the apartment. "Gonna warn ya, she's still _wicked_ mad at you."

 _Ha. At least some things in Boston are still the same._

"Nat? Who the hell are you letting…?" Piper was walking down the stairs, stopping mid-stride. The ashen look of shock on her face quickly mutated to annoyance, and then outright anger, before settling in on sarcastic disdain.

Nora felt her heart skip a beat, her stomach lurch deliciously as she gazed up at her old flame. She possessed an appreciative eye for women as much as men; Nate knew that much when he married her. Truth be told, he always found it a little bit of a turn on. It took the better part of a year for her broken heart to start to piece it back together, and the Diamond City newsie now glaring down at her played a large role in that. They both shared the same shoulder length waves of raven black hair, similar slim builds. They both used to joke how scandalous it was, that they looked so much alike

Except for the thin scar running across the eye, down the right side of Nora's face; the one that Deathclaw left her with, the day she first met Preston Garvey and his small band of refugees.

"You." Piper spat, and Nora felt herself wilt inside. It cut her deeply, to see those eyes, which once lit up in her presence, that all but idolized her, now filled with little but contempt.

The younger woman crossed her arms, cocked her hips to one side. "So what do you want? You come alone, or didja bring the metal goon squad.?I mean, the rumors are true, aren't they? What you're doing these days, the people you're hanging out with? Is this you coming around, trying to tie up all your loose ends?"

Nora closed her eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. Shaking her head, she spoke softly, "No. Nothing like that. I'm alone and…" she held up the cooler. "I brought food for dinner. I mean, I need to cook it but...but you used to like my cooking."

Rolling her eyes in a slow and exaggerated fashion, Piper reached into her trenchcoat, pulling out a change purse. Tossing it towards her sister, who caught it. A heavy rattle filled the room.

"Here's seventy caps. Go over to Power Noodles. Dinner's on me. And dessert too. If you don't hear from me in an hour, you go over to Nick and tell him...tell him I'm in trouble, just like he and I talked about last week."

Nora tried to hide the hurt in her voice, "Piper, I'm not going to…"

Nat interjected, "Wait, what? No fair! I haven't seen Nora in months, and just because you don't like her anymore.."

Cutting her off, Piper barked out. "Nat! Go...go...okay? I'll take care of this."

Glancing between the two of them, it was clear the young girl wanted to see whatever fireworks were about to fly. That, or perhaps she was afraid for her sister? A good ten seconds passed before she finally turned and ran off, caps clutched in her hand.

"You...you didn't have to do that, Piper. I promise you. No one's going to hurt you. Least of all me, it's...how could you even think…?" Nora said.

"I don't know what to think! I don't even know who you are anymore! I don't..." Piper sputtered to a stop. Winced, closing her eyes for a moment, as she desperately struggled to compose her thoughts. Her hand stayed close to the .44 magnum revolver strapped to her hip. The one that belonged to Kellogg; the one Nora gave her, after they brought him down together.

"Anyhow, the only reason I don't shoot you right this minute is...is because your pet synths would just make another copy of you. And then me, or maybe just Nat, disappear in the middle of the night. So...so don't think I want you here!"

"I just…" Nora began. She then held out the cooler "It's just dinner. Dinner and an explanation. I owe you that much."

"Yeah, no fucking shit Bl-". Piper stopped herself, as if she tasted something sour. Almost speaking Nora's old pet name. Tried to cover it up with a hastily spat, "bitch". She then continued, "Fine. Dinner. Sure, whatever. You know where the stove is." she waved towards the battered old range, dismissively, before flopping down at the small dining room table.

Starting to unpack, and searching for a clean enough pan to use, Nora explained. "Vat grown beef. The Docs tell me it's taken from some old DNA samples of Kobe steer that were on record. Having had the genuine article, I gotta say, they came pretty damn close to perfection. Oh! And potatoes! Real ones, like they used to grow up in Maine, not the weird...mutant hybrids the grow around here now."

"Yeah, and there you go with the old-timey Grandma Ghoul speak." Piper grumbled, leaning back in her chair, and appraising Nora with a suspicious glare.

She simply smiled, and replied. "I missed you. I really did. I always meant to come, do this sooner. I'd like to say it was all a matter of work keeping me busy, that so much is changing. I mean, that's true, but…"

 _And then there was the fucking nerves. Seeing the scorn in your eyes, making it real for myself._

Shrugging, Piper asked, "So you decided to pay a visit to little me, huh? Should I be grateful? Hell, I'm surprised you didn't just have your new friends build you a synth copy of me. Maybe even a whole harem."

Nora smirked, and said, without considering the potential ramifications, "What makes you think I haven't?"

Piper smacked a palm down on the table, and violently jabbed a finger towards the door with her other hand. "Right! That just cost you. You can get the hell out right now!"

Holding up her hands in submissive reconciliation, Nora called out, "Hey hey hey. It was just a joke. You...you used to like my jokes. Got so I'd be sarcastic when we talked to other folks, just to see you smile."

Mollified, albeit barely, the other woman shut her eyes tight, and then shook her head. "No. No that was Blue. That was the woman I loved. The one who…" Eyes opening, and then regarding Nora with such sadness. "I still don't know what happened to her. Where the hell she went. One day, she steps onto the platform of that crazy machine she and Sturges built, and that...that's it. Then a month of nothing! Oh, I mean, I got a few reports here and there. Heard some rumors, dug up what I could. Found shit I didn't believe, that I _couldn't_ believe."

What happened next remained unspoken between the both of them. Nora returning to Sanctuary, just long enough to gather some critical supplies. Have a long, private conversation with Sturges. And spend one last night together, just her and Piper.

 _I wouldn't tell her what was going on. I just asked her to trust me, that everything was going to be okay. That I might not see her again, but that I'd always love her. Nothing would change that._

 _And nothing has._

She departed in the early morning, having strapped on the custom built power armor she'd spent months gathering the materials to construct. Left Piper still sleeping in the bed, in the house they'd come to share together.

"And then there was that radio broadcast. The one you made, announcing that the Institute was real, and here, ready to rule over everyone!"

Nora sighed once, as she flipped over the steaks she was cooking, "That's not fair. I think you can grant me that much. I promise you, I meant every word I said. It's time for the Institute to step up, to use all of our tremendous resources to rebuild the Commonwealth."

"Yeah. Sure. Right. All I know is that Blue was gone, and someone I didn't even recognize took her place."

Nora busied herself with her cooking for another minute, before she finally responded. "Alright. Let's start there then. The Institute. What happened after I used the Signal Interceptor."

"Sounds like a plan."

Nora worked her lower lip between her teeth, trying to piece together how she was going to explain everything. Piper beat her to it, by asking, "Did you find him, at least? Your son? Did you find Shaun?"

Nodding once, Nora all but whispered out. "Yes. I did."

With a hopeful note rising in her voice, Piper asked, "And...and they were holding him hostage, right? They were going to kill him? That...I mean that's why you did it right? Working with the Institute. They were holding Shaun, and you had no choice."

"No. I'm sorry, Piper, it's a lot more complicated than that. I told you, I found him. You and I thought he was still a little boy, that maybe a decade passed between the time he was kidnapped, and when I finally got out of the Vault. But no. Turns out, it was more like sixty." Nora took a deep breath, adding, "Shaun was an old man. And more to the point, he was the Director of the Institute."

Piper's lower lip trembled, eyes starting to glisten with tears that she was desperate not to shed. Her voice developed a hot quaver, as she said, "So that was it? You found him. Found out he was the big bad boss, and what? You just joined him? You just...you turned your back on everyone!? On me! Us?!"

The words rang in Nora's ears, rattling around her mind as she focused on laying out the sizzling steaks, now cooked to medium rare perfection, along with steaming potatoes on whatever passed for clean plates. Placed knife and forks out for each of them, and took her place at the table.

"It _was_ him, Piper. It...it really was. I just...a mother knows these things." Nora started, in a far-away voice. "All this time, I thought….and then...I find him. My little boy was older than me." Staring down at her plate, she began to slowly cut into her meat. "I...I don't know. At first? I think...I was trying to find answers. I had to give my little boy the benefit of the doubt. Try and understand what was going on, why he was doing what...I mean, _if_ he was doing what people were accusing him of."

Piper sliced off a piece of steak and stabbed at it viciously with her fork. Bringing it up to her mouth and chewing. "Hmm. This is all right. I guess. Tastes kinda...weird, though. Guess I'm just not used to your fancy science grub."

Nora didn't have the heart to tell the other woman that her pallet simply wasn't used to meat that wasn't heavily irradiated and/or seriously gamey.

"I suppose not." was all she said. Paused to take a bite of her own, revel in the brief, but potently sharp memories it produced. A vacation to Vegas, a couple years before the war. A good night at the blackjack tables, free steak dinners. Not long afterwards, she and Nate conceived.

Nora continued, "He wanted me to help them out. Take Kellogg's place, in a way." No matter how many times she thought about it, said it, there was still a small shudder of revulsion at the thought. "It was easy at first, when all they asked was that I help them reclaim a Synth who thought he was a raider leader, out in Libertalia…"

"Heard about that…" was all Piper remarked.

Nodding grimly, Nora continued, starting to work on the baked potato. "Told myself that I would go along with it. Be a wolf in the fold. Sooner or later, I'd make a determination. Convinced myself that I was only going along with it to help The Railroad, find something they could use. I had to play it…." she stumbled for a moment, and then said softly. "I had to gain their trust."

Piper spoke around the food in her mouth, "Yeah well...I'll be kind and just assume that you were blinded. Mothers love and all? You find out that your kid was the head of the Institute, and you didn't want to believe he was doing all these terrible things."

Nora spoke up defensively, "But it _wasn't_ like that, Piper! The Institute wasn't evil, just...so misguided! I mean...I could see how much they could help. The facility itself is incredible. The technology they have, the things they can achieve. Have, already. I wanted to believe that if I could just reach them. Convince them. To come out of their insular fucking shells and...and HELP."

Another short silence crept between them, before Nora said, "I hit this point where I was frustrated. Shaun and I...he was my son, but he was still his own man. Convinced that the Synths were nothing more than tools, robots that occasionally malfunctioned. We constantly clashed on this point, again and again. But I just...could...never make him see that what he was doing was wrong."

Stopping long enough to pull a can of purified water out from the cooler, she added, "I almost left, around that point. I didn't feel like I was getting through to any of them, and… Well, obviously, I'd gotten the answer I was seeking. I found him. I figured it was time to move on, plot out what I was going to do with the rest of my life."

"But? There's a but coming up." Piper exclaimed. "Been a reporter long enough to spot a but a mile away."

Nora couldn't help but smile at this.

Nora bowed her head. "He was dying, Piper. It was cancer. Can you believe it? All this incredible technology, perfectly preserved, brought to the cleanest place in the world, and he…" Even now, the obdurate lump rose in her throat, and she struggled to keep the tears from flooding her vision. "He was the one who let me out of stasis. He was dying, and it was his last chance to get to know me. But...I was something of a stranger to him. He wanted to test me, I suppose? Measure my mettel? Cut of my jib? Would I stand or fall, out in the Wasteland? I could have put him over my knee for that! But then when he….when he said…" Nora did her best to still the tremors in her arms, before she said, "Damnit! Alright, he came out and made _me_ his successor. A change in perspective, shake things up. Fresh blood. Do you understand Piper? He left me everything. Every. Thing."

The memory still burned fresh in her mind's eye; Shaun, perched on the top of the old CIT building, beholding the ruins of Boston...

"...right before he did, he finally went topside. First time in his life. We - ah - we stood there. He and I. He looked out across Boston, what was left of it. All he could see was...was failure. A place as terrible and irredeemable as the Institute that raised him told him about. Filled his head with stories of."

Piper wasn't looking at her anymore. Slowly eating her meal, speaking her words with measured effect. "Yeah? And is that what you see, too? Like mother like son?" With more genuine hurt, she looked up at last. "We're all backward, primitive savages to you, aren't we? You're gonna come and save us from ourselves?"

Nora hugged herself, speaking, almost as if in a daze. "What? No! I mean...I...I still remember what it looked like, Piper. I close my eyes, and I can't help but see what it was, in its hayday. And yes. It was...amazing. Breathtaking. Spectacular. Oh God, I wish you could have seen what Fenway...Diamond City looked like, back then. The lights, how you could see them from miles away. Like small suns, burning bright as day. And it was so loud! Crowded. Alive! But…" she paused, taking another piece of steak into her mouth, and then added, "But we fucked it up, didn't we? Who are we to judge? We grew greedy, and materialistic. We couldn't find a way to come together, for the benefit of all. And in the end, we nuked ourselves into oblivion." She wiped at her eyes and looked across the table. "The United States was barely three hundred years old when we finally killed it. The Commonwealth today is a little over two hundred, and you know what? It has its problems but you haven't destroyed yourselves yet. You make it another century, and I think you get to put us in our place at last." She smiled sadly at this.

Piper tried a new line of attack. "Fine. I get it. You got offered up all this power on a plate, and you just took it. Turn your back on all of us! Me, Nat, the Minutemen. Just left us behind! I mean, you kicked the Brotherhood out, sent them home to their Mama's, and don't think we don't appreciate it..but…." and finally she hissed, slamming her hand down on the table. Revealing what was weighing on her heart, above all else.. "The Railroad! Is it true? Was that….you!? Did you slaughter them all?"

Nora didn't looking at her this time. Couldn't. Held her tongue for a pregnant pause, before the words of her confession began to bleed out of her. "I tried to talk him out of it. Shaun, I mean. But it was...like this obsession with him. The Institute could do no wrong, and The Railroad could do no good. I saw first hand, what happened with The Railroad's good intentions went wrong, so I understand his one small point. When their attempts to reprogram runaway synths drove them mad, led them to kill, maim, terrorize. But I've also seen too much of what the synths are, to believe that they are mere machines, that there isn't _some_...spark, something divine inside them."

She hugged herself tightly shaking her head, "I couldn't talk him out of it. It was his final test for me. It was what he needed before he'd turn over the Institute to me. And so...god help me...I weighed the pros and cons. Sat in judgement. Sacrificed The Railroad on the altar of my own good intentions. I'm...I'm not going to try and convince you Piper. The technology we have access to now, the advancements we're going to be making." Nora's face grew animated, her eyes alive with her vision of a better tomorrow. "I've already sat down with all of the Minuteman settlements, sent them food, supplies. Scientists who can teach them how to grow more efficient crops, create better medicines, build schools. I want to raise them back up, Piper, I swear! One day...one day, the Commonwealth Provisional Government will rise up again, and...and…"

Nora froze, realizing she'd reached out to hold Piper's hand, just as she'd done so many times in the past.

But that was a long time ago.

Another life.

Piper took her hand back, scowling, "And I suppose we're all supposed to fall to our knees and praise 'Mother', Savior of the Wasteland! Isn't that what your robots call you now? The ones that suddenly showed up and started providing security services, whether we wanted it or not? And if we don't play along? Do we all end up dead in the ground like the Railroad, you maniac?!"

"N-no…" Nora stammered out, recoiling. "The Institute is going to be neutral, I swear. A provider of technology, a clearinghouse of knowledge. A place where the best and brightest minds of the Commonwealth can come and help us build a better tomorrow."

Piper turned away from her, and through gritted teeth, said, "Think I've heard enough." She pushed her plate away from her. "Thanks for dinner. Any last words, before I kick your ass out of here for good?"

Nora took a deep, hard breath, slowly reached into a satchel at her side, placing a long, curious handheld device on the table in front of her former lover.

"Yes. In order for The Institute to move forward, we need to stop making Synths. Or at least, more than the basic units. What we're doing...making new life, and then immediately enslaving it...this can't go on! And the only way that I can convince the Directorate to ultimately abandon the use of advanced infiltration synths is if the advantage they give us goes away."

She rubbed at her face for a moment, before continuing, "It just so happens that Sturges conveniently found himself in possession of a lot of Institute data. And working along with a few other scientists scattered across the Commonwealth, who answer directly to me...my own personal Shadow Institute, if you will, they've managed to create this: it's a synth detector. Relatively easy to replicate and distribute. The Institute itself hasn't figured this puzzle out, and because it scans for critical components inherent in each synth, they shouldn't ever be able to find a way around it. So...so once everyone in the Commonwealth is able to determine who is and isn't a synth, it'll build the case for me to push, and push hard to slowly phase out their use...our unhealthy dependence on them. To finally force them to take a good, long, hard look at what they've done...what we're doing now. To step back and stop playing God."

Nora bowed her head, resting a hand across her face. "That...was the promise I made myself. That if I did away with The Railroad, I'd would create a world that no longer needed them. This...I have to do this, Piper."

Piper turned back, grabbing the device hesitantly, studying it, as if it were too good to be true.

"And...you think this makes everything even?" she asked, albeit with a slightly softer tone of voice.

"Not even close." Nora whispered. "But I know if I give you one of these, you'll do the right thing. So I suggest you start by paying the mayor a visit. Take Nick with you when you do. It'll ah...it'll get messy, when you find out the truth. But this is how it starts. This is how I reform the Commonwealth and The Institute at the same time."

"Jesus….fuck!" Piper hissed sharply. "You're saying he's...that the Mayor? I...I _knew_ it. I always knew there was something off about that son of a bitch but...no. No!" Piper shook her head, dropping the device down on the table. "I don't believe you! Probably rigged whatever this dohicky is ding whoever you want, get us turning against each other."

Nora rose up, glancing one more time at Piper with a deeply pained expression, a soft, sad smile.

 _It was so much easier when I was just the so-called "General" of the MInutemen, wasn't it? When we thought we'd have a simple kind of life together._

"You can choose to believe me. Or not. It would be easier if you helped me though...if." Nora reached up, wiping her eyes. "I should go. It was good to see you again, Piper. I can see now you hate me. With good reason. And I'll be happy to leave you alone for the rest of your life. But if you ever could find it in your heart to forgive me...even a little...then I promise I will never leave your side again. But in the meantime, I have other responsibilities to attend to. Including a child, believe it or not. Was kind of hoping you might let me bring him around sometime. I think interacting with Nat would be good for him. He needs as much socialization as possible. With normal people, I mean. Not all the scientists."

Piper clearly didn't understand the meaning. She picked up the device again, hefting it in her hand. Shook her head, bit down on her lip and after a short while, said, "Look. It's a lot of fucking shit to process. I mean…part of me...fuck! God help me, part of me wants to believe. If just so I don't feel like you totally pulled the wool over my eyes, made me believe that you were someone totally different the entire time."

The tears fell fully at last now, Piper's voice cracking as she said, "Yeah...I wanna believe. But it's gonna take time, Blue. A lot of it."

Nora smiled tenderly. She didn't have the heart to point out what Piper just called her. Simply held it close to her heart, and let it become a seed of hope to plant deep down inside.

"Nick knows how to get in touch with me, if you want to send a message. Until then...I'll stay away. Goodbye, Piper."

The other woman tugged down her newsie cap, hugged herself close, and glanced down at the floor, staring holes into the floorboards.

"Yeah. Bye."

Nora's world burst into electric blue energy once more.

And then she was gone.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ And so I step into my third fandom, although I don't think I'll be spending a lot of time in this one. I both loved and loathed Fallout 4. Definite love-hate relationship here. But Piper...oh sweet Piper, you really make the game. The Newsie and her Floozie. Still, I'm angry at FO4 for not doing more with the scenario it sets us up with, the woman out of her time.

I still can't help but feel like I could have done a much better job with this one, but it was getting to the point where if I didn't cut it lose, it'd stay on the shelf forever and a day. Sometimes, as a certain photographic asshole once said, you have to take the shot.

Anyhow, please review, I hope you liked it. Back I go into LiS land.


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